TROY, Ala. (2/8/18) – Arkansas State lost a six point lead in the final two minutes of regulation and Troy came back to defeat the Red Wolves in overtime 89-83 Thursday night at Trojan Arena.

Ty Cockfield had a career high 31 points to lead A-State (9-16, 4-8), but Wesley Person carried Troy (11-13, 5-6) with 24 points, including back-to-back 3-pointers in the final minutes. Deven Simms added 16 points and 11 rebounds for his fourth double-double this season while Tamas Bruce had 12 points and eight rebounds.

The Red Wolves shot 41.6 percent (32-77) from the field, but made only 1-of-11 in the final 35 seconds and five minutes of overtime. A-State was 7-of-26 (26.9 percent) from 3-point range and converted 75 percent at the charity stripe. Troy finished the night shooting 52.5 percent (32-61) from the field and hit 36.4 percent (8-22) beyond the arc. The Trojans were 11-of-12 (91.7 percent) at the charity stripe in the second half and finished the game 17-of-24 (70.8 percent).

Troy had a 46-34 advantage on the glass, but A-State snagged 11 offensive rebounds to outscore the Trojans 12-8 in second chance points. The Red Wolves had a 48-40 advantage on points in the paint and a 25-12 edge in points off turnovers.

How It Happened (First Half):

Troy opened the game scoring the first eight points, but A-State railed to tie the score at 14 and 21 before finally taking a lead late in the half. With the Red Wolves trailing 27-25, Cockfield drained a 3-pointer to give A-State its first lead at 28-27 with 4:56 to go in the half.

Cockfield’s 3-pointer started a spurt in which he scored nine of 11 points for the Red Wolves. His third triple gave A-State its largest lead of the first 20 minutes at 36-33, but Troy railed to tie at 38 in the final 30 seconds. The Red Wolves forced a turnover as the Trojans set up for the final shot of the half and Simms raced to the other end and finished to give A-State a 40-38 lead at the break.

Cockfield had 16 points in the first half while Simms also had double figures with 10 points. The Red Wolves shot 47.2 percent (17-36) in the first half while the Trojans hit 50 percent (16-32). A-State was 4-of-12 (33.3 percent) from 3-point range while Troy hit just 3-of-9 (33.3 percent).

How It Happened (Second Half):

A-State opened the frame by outscoring the Trojans 13-3 to grab a 53-41 lead with 16:22 to play. Troy answered with a 12-4 run to get back into the ball game, but the Red Wolves maintained at least a two-point advantage until the final two minutes.

A-State led 78-72 with 1:30 to play, but back-to-back 3-pointers by Person sent the game to overtime. The Trojans started overtime with a 9-0 run to lead 87-78 and the Red Wolves were unable to get closer than four in the final two minutes of the extra frame.

Notables:

Ty Cockfield had a career high 31 points, besting his previous high of 25 points set against Howard earlier this season.

Ty Cockfield’s 31 points marks the first 30-point outing in a conference game by an A-State player since Devin Carter had 33 versus South Alabama on Feb. 4, 2016.

A-State played a regular season overtime game for the first time since Feb. 13, 2016. The Red Wolves have lost their last three games that went into overtime.

Deven Simms notched his fourth double-double of the season, fifth of his career, with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Deven Simms tied his career high with four steals. It’s the fourth time he’s notched four steals in a game over his career.

Marquis Eaton set a season best with three steals and logged five or more assists for the second time in his young career.

Quoting Assistant Coach Vince Walden:

“I think our effort tonight was tremendous. Troy is a very similar team to us in that they are trying to get guys better down the stretch here. The league is bunched up and tonight was a very important game for both teams. We want to be right there in the mix and I was really proud with our effort tonight. Outside of the way the game started, with them jumping out to an 8-0 run, we played really well in regulation for the most part. We rebounded the ball, we shared the ball and we did some good things, but it just wasn’t good enough tonight.”

Up Next:

The Red Wolves face South Alabama on Saturday at 3:05 p.m. before returning to First National Bank Arena to host Little Rock on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 7:00 p.m.